


All the Fruitless Searches

by gleesquid



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Infidelity, F/M, M/M, Pining, Romantic Comedy, Secret Admirer, love square
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 14:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13055847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleesquid/pseuds/gleesquid
Summary: Johnny Storm is madly and completely in love with Reed Richards. Sue Storm only wants the best for her little brother. Neither of them has ever been happier. Really.





	All the Fruitless Searches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lamujerarana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamujerarana/gifts).



> So, this is set in a vaguely-616 adjacent world; it was inspired by the universe where Reed and Johnny get married. 
> 
> Hope this is enough ReedSue and PeterJohnny to tide you over! Happy Yuletide!

Johnny woke to the warm softness of breath on his face. He cracked open an eye to stare at a too wide smile and brown hair falling in kind eyes and the most handsome face he knew.

“Good morning, Mr. Richards,” Johnny said, smiling in a lazy Sunday morning way, the kind of smile he used to practice before the mirror for any girl (or guy, a little part of him thought) that he would spend Sunday mornings with.

“Good morning, Mr. Storm,” said Reed, voice spreading through the air like jam on toast. He leaned forward to kiss him and Johnny melted.

“I do love how you look right after sunrise, light in your hair and your eyes and your skin,” Reed whispered into Johnny’s ear, sending shivers down Johnny’s spine.

“You should give up science,” Johnny murmured. “Take up poetry.”

“Ah, yes. Me, the poet. Can you imagine? Hold on, let me come up with something.” Reed cleared his throat all too dramatically. “I have it. Listen to this. ‘It’s the way that you know what I thought I knew, it’s the beat my heart skips when I’m with you. But I still don’t understand just how your love can do what no one else can.'” A smile tugged at his lips. “'Got me looking so crazy right now, your love’s got me looking so – oomf!”

A pillow slammed into Reed’s face even as Johnny could hear his laughter.

“I don’t know whether to be offended on Beyoncé’s behalf, or proud that you know one of her songs that well,” said Johnny. "But I feel like there are some way better ones for our relationship."

“Just be happy I listen.”

“Yeah, to the radio.”

Reed bent down and pecked Johnny on the lips. “I have to get to the lab.”

“Must you?” He tried to make himself look alluring with rumpled bedhead and morning breath. He let the sheets slip down his body a little so that his nipples showed. Those still looked good, at least. “Can’t you just stay here with me forever instead?”

Reed didn’t even glance at Johnny’s tantalizing nipples. “As incredibly tempting as that is, I’m afraid I can’t. Your sister called me at two in the morning to tell me all about the break through she’s had regarding the virus from the Negative Zone we’ve been studying.”

Johnny scrunched up his nose. “She didn’t.”

“She definitely did. She’s a driven woman, your sister.”

If anyone else said something like that, Johnny might have been offended on his sister’s behalf. But Reed was so genuinely fond of Sue’s drive that it warmed Johnny’s heart.

“Don’t get any ideas that _drive_ is an attractive quality,” Johnny said, stretching his arms above his head so the sheet dipped farther, exposing the golden skin of his (spray-tanned abs). Reed’s eyes finally dropped a centimeter and Johnny smirked. “You’re _sure_ you have to go?”

“Positive,” said Reed. “But I will miss you though.”

His lips began to stretch off his face. Shrieking, Johnny ducked away.

“No, no, no. There is a _lot_ of stretching I will condone, but your lips must absolutely stay attached to your face please.”

Reed pouted.

“See?” Johnny rose up to his knees so they were about eye level. “Your lips are so cute when they’re where they’re supposed to be.” He kissed Reed. “Hurry home.”

Reed hummed. “Always.”

For a moment, Johnny wanted to argue the validity of that “always.” Reed liked to leave for work at the crack of dawn and not return until the night was at its blackest. These days it felt like he saw more of Mr. Fantastic than Reed Richards. And, sure, Mr. Fantastic was sexy as hell but he wasn’t quite real.

But this was real. Reed, here, all dapper with his suit and salt-and-pepper hair, something between mad scientist and Hollywood-handsome. Reed looking at him the way he was, like Johnny was a treat dipped in chocolate, that was real.

But then Reed kissed him a final time and slipped from the room and Johnny was alone.

He flopped back onto the bed, rolling onto his side to see the gauzy curtains pulled across the window. Golden crystals of sunlight sparkled across the wooden floor.

He wanted to fly.

Even more than that, he wanted to see the sun.

Johnny slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom, trying to be quiet in the empty space. He didn’t want to disturb the silence unless Reed was here. He _really_ wanted to disturb it with Reed.

He took his time in the shower, relaxing under the showerhead that had a special setting just for him, using too much of Reed’s conditioner because Reed didn’t use enough. He wrapped a fluffy towel around himself when he climbed out and, without dressing, blew his hair dry. Reed had so many types of gadgets and gizmos that he barely used and Johnny loved playing with all of them.

He unfolded his Fantastic Four uniform and as he did, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. Arching an eyebrow, Johnny reached down to pick it up. It was thick parchment, rough in his hands, and when he opened it, there was a note typed in small, thin letters: _Your eyes are what Earth looks like from space._

Johnny smiled softly. Reed wasn’t a poet? What a laugh. He carefully folded the paper again and placed it on his bedside table.

He dressed in his uniform and threw on dark wash jeans and a pea coat. He examined himself in the mirror. The slimness of his uniform was nice when it came to having no lines under his clothes, but it sucked that the extra layer did nothing for his ass.

Whatever. Some things were unchangeable. Unless you were Reed. Reed _swore_ he was _really_ that big, but Johnny would never know for sure. Not that he was complaining.

Johnny had wanted to fly, but now he felt like walking. The winter was just beginning and he loved the sharpness of it, a reminder of the cold he couldn't feel.  When he breathed, a cloud of steam arose from his lips, fogging up his sunglasses. A woman with a toy poodle in a handbag frowned at him and hurried past, as if he were smoking. But she was breathing little puffs of steam too. They were both warmer on the inside than the outside, but only he was on fire.

“Hey, are you Johnny Storm?”

Johnny turned, movie star smile already in place. It turned into a laugh when he saw the man with the camera.

“I am  _such_ a big fan,” said Peter Parker, his finger tapping the shutter rapidly. “I did a Buzzfeed quiz that said you’re my soulmate.”

“Who can argue with destiny?” Johnny struck a pose for one more picture. “Send me those. My hair looks great today. But, god, please nothing featuring my ass.”

“Your ass is _fine_.”

“No one who has an ass is allowed to comment on mine.”

Peter rolled his eyes and they fell into step together.

“What are you up to?” Peter asked.

“Enjoying the day,” said Johnny, grinning at him. “But I’m glad you came looking for me.”

Peter sputtered. “I was not looking for you.”

“Oh, sure. You totally happened to be a block from the Baxter Building. I bet you’d been standing outside my window for an hour, wondering whether you should throw rocks or hold up a boom box.”

“You’re not clever. Take it from someone who is actually clever, you are not.”

Johnny cleared his throat.

“Whatever you’re thinking about doing, don’t do it,” said Peter.

“ _All my instincts, they return,_ ” he crooned.

“Oh god.”

_“The grand façade, so soon will burn . . .”_

“Speaking of things you think you’re good at, but aren’t.”

“ _In your eyes! Lalalala your eyes!”_

“Pretty sure that's not the right rhythm.”

Johnny collapsed into a fit of laughter, throwing his head back so the birds high above could call back to him. “I don’t remember the rest of the words.”

“In your defense, you only remembered about two lines anyway.”

Johnny turned to glare at Peter, but found that Peter was already looking at him strangely. Peter cleared his throat and dropped his gaze and Johnny felt his heart fall with it.

“No Reed today?” Peter asked, carefully casual.

“Nope,” said Johnny, just as careful. Just as casual. “He’s off changing the world, I guess.”

“So you’re stuck with me.” Peter slung an arm around Johnny’s shoulders. It was tense for a moment, practiced, but the muscles soon relaxed and Johnny pressed himself to Peter’s side.

“Guess so,” said Johnny. “Where’re you headed? Other than to find me.”

Peter rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue, and Johnny counted it as a win. “Doing what I usually do. Looking for some _action,_ if you know what I mean. Gotta get some _photos._ Need to make _money._ Gotta pay my _rent._ ”

“How is paying your rent a double entendre for Spider –,”

“Shhhhhh,” Peter hissed. “Not so loud. Trying to keep a secret identity here.”

Johnny didn’t even know where to start.

“So how’s your walk going?” asked Peter.

“You mean the walk I had barely started before you thought ‘hey, I know that guy, let’s go annoy him’?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Oh, it’s fine. But now I’m thinking that a team up of Spider-Man and the Human Torch sure would sell a lot of papers, huh?”

Peter beamed at him. He slotted their fingers together and pulled Johnny into an alleyway.

“Baby, you treat me so well,” said Peter, hands flying down Johnny’s peacoat buttons.

“Hands where I can see ‘em." Johnny smirked as Peter undid his belt and the buttons of Johnny’s jeans. He felt a little flushed as Peter pushed them down his legs, and a moment of fear that he hadn’t put on his uniform at all. But it was there, right where he’d left it, and Peter knew of course.

“Are you _implying_ that I would ever try something with a taken man?” He was on his knees in front of Johnny and god, Johnny hated him sometimes.

“You’ve told me the story about Betty Brant,” said Johnny, fighting the breathiness of his voice. "Give me your camera. You're right where I like you." 

He dragged a delicate finger across Peter's lower lip. His lips parted and Johnny briefly thought about slipping his finger in.

"I'm the photographer here. You'd get my lighting all wrong." He kissed Johnny's finger once. "Plus I generally prefer your spot." 

"Who doesn't?" 

Peter's eyes burned. "You." 

Johnny's insides turned to lava. Peter raised his camera to capture the blush before it faded.

“Wanna know the difference between you and Betty Brant?" Peter asked, dragging a slow hand up Johnny's thigh. Johnny's breath caught. He nodded. "Her husband was an asshole. Not like _Reed Richards._ ”

Johnny frowned and stepped out of his jeans, away from Peter. Peter must have sensed the change in mood. The mischief in his eyes faded.

“Johnny, I didn’t mean –,”

“I know.” Johnny didn’t know. Peter could have a mean streak sometimes. Not in the way that Johnny ever feared for himself, but in a way that it became difficult to tell what was Peter making a joke and what was him trying to communicate in the clumsiest way possible. “Let’s go find Paste-Pot Pete or someone, okay?”

Peter was still frowning but he nodded.

“Okay. Yeah. Nothing like Paste-Pot Pete to make the Bugle readers put down their Twitter and their iPods and pay attention.”

“I don’t think anyone has an iPod anymore,” Johnny said.

Peter shucked off his clothes and pulled the Spider-Man mask over his head. He grabbed their clothes and his camera and skittered up the side of the building. Johnny followed.

“Ready?” Peter asked, clothes hidden and camera secured around his neck.

“Petruski won’t know what hit him,” said Johnny.

Peter laughed and, together, they flew.

 -x-

Sue stared through the microscope at the squirming amoeba, jotting down notes absentmindedly. Something tickled her side and she spun around.

Reed stood there, his hand stretched out. He dropped it.

“Sorry, I was just –,”

“It’s fine. I didn’t hear you, is all.”

Reed’s eyes were a little squinted and he was peering slightly over Sue’s shoulder. She looked down at her body – and saw only the floor.

She flickered back into view, laughing a little.

“Sorry.”

Reed grinned. “It’s fine. I didn’t see you, is all.”

She rolled her eyes even as she couldn’t fight the way her lips quirked up.

Reed hesitated as he reached for her notes.

“May I?” he asked. Sue nodded, a strange fluttering in her stomach. His eyes scanned over the notes. She had a sudden worry that he might not be able to read them, which was crazy. Her handwriting was nice. Not impeccable, but nice. He’d be able to read it.

“Susan,” Reed said. Her heart was locked in her throat as she watched him close his eyes and rub the bridge of his nose.

“It was only a guess,” she said. “I didn’t really –,”

“You’re a genius.”

 Sue blinked. “I am?

Reed looked up from the notes, his smile stretching so wide it was nearly inhuman.

“This is – this is brilliant. _You_ are brilliant.” Reed gripped Sue’s shoulders and kissed her firmly on both cheeks. “You’re brilliant!”

Sue’s giggles were a bit too girlish for her comfort and her whole face was warm. But she was staring into Reed’s wild eyes and she barely noticed.

“I’m not,” she said. “I’m just pointing out the obvious –,”

“Oh yes, the _obvious_ , that silly old me couldn’t even figure out the mathematics of.”

Sue’s grin hurt her face. “Okay, so I’m brilliant.”

Reed led Sue to his office, nodding at his fellow scientists and clapping them on the back. Every few people he would inform, “My friend, Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman? She’s a genius, just so you know.” The person would say, “I know, sir.” And Sue would roll her eyes but privately, her insides would bloom with flowers.

“Just let me lock these up,” he said, arms stretching around and opening cabinets to find a place to shove Sue’s notes. “And then you and I are taking the day off.”

Sue’s heart sputtered into overdrive. “But you just got here . . .”

“And _you_ have been here all night. It would be irresponsible of me to let you work one more minute.”

“You don’t _let_ me do anything.”

“Perhaps, but I _can_ bribe you with promise of coffee . . .” Reed waggled his eyebrows at her.

She bit her lip, trying to keep her own face under control. “Since when have you ever taken the day off?”

“Since I wanted to treat you to some coffee.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Although I admit that I have also been hoping to talk to you. This meeting would not be entirely selfish.” He smiled a little. “And if I get enough coffee in my system, I’ll work through the night.”

She narrowed her eyes, the warm feeling dissipating. “Johnny would be okay with that?”

“Johnny is very understanding," Reed said, waving off her concerns.

His hand zipped to the corner of the office, where he picked up a leather satchel that contained his work laptop. His other hand held open the door.

“After you,” he said, and Sue thanked him as she went.

Walking side-by-side with Reed through the Baxter Building out into the sunlight, his easy laughter and askew tie and the admiring looks cast to him by scientists and tourists and the like, it felt like old times. Sue and Reed, against the world.

She wondered if Reed placed his hand on the small of Johnny’s back to guide him through doorways like he always did with her.

God, she was being stupid. Johnny was her brother, and that trumped whatever Reed had been to her any day of the week.

She had to admit though, sometimes, that she didn’t understand how exactly Johnny and Reed’s relationship worked. Johnny, who was bright and lovely and could be intensely codependent. Reed, silly and brilliant and on his own for too long before he’d ever met them. Maybe somehow they met in the middle.

Johnny had never been one for meeting in the middle.

She hoped her brother was okay. She should call him. Sometimes he forgot to eat, and Reed wasn’t any less absentminded.

Reed waved down a cab – quite literally, his arm flapping around in the air like he belonged on top of a used car dealership.

“That’s some guy o’ yours,” said the cabbie, as they slipped into the backseat.

“Isn’t he just,” said Sue, grinning at Reed. Reed grinned right back.

He was so damn beautiful. It made her sick to her stomach.

She pulled out her phone and brought up the group chat.

 

SUE STORM

Need a girl’s night (and to drink away my problems) ASAP

 

ALICIA MASTERS

 Yes, please!

 

ORORO MUNROE

I hope everything’s okay, honey <3

 

JENNIFER WALTERS

Already pregaming

 

EMMA FROST

Whose ass am I kicking?

 

ALYSSA MOY

Reed ain’t worth shit, girl.

 

“What are you smiling about?” Reed asked, nudging her with his shoulder.

“Girls’ night,” said Sue. “The plans are in the works.”

“Ah. I fancy myself an adventurer but I don’t know if I’m quite ready to brave those waters.”

“Good thing you weren’t invited then.”

Reed arched an eyebrow. Sue smirked. Reed’s lips twitched.

She wondered if Johnny could make him smile so easily. She wondered if there was a special place in hell for sisters who wanted to bang their brothers’ boyfriends.

 -x-

“You’d think a guy would learn,” said Peter, leaning against a lamppost as Paste-Pot Pete struggled to free himself from his webbed cocoon.  

“Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, my pal,” said Johnny. He hovered a bit in the air, just to make Paste-Pot Pete mad. “And you especially can’t teach an old dog that he sucks and the newer dogs are both stronger and sexier than him.”

“I’ll kill you both one of these days,” growled Paste-Pot Pete. “I swear to all you find holy, I will snap and murder you bo –,”

Peter squirted web onto Paste-Pot Pete’s mouth. Johnny wrinkled his nose.

“Do you ever think about how gross that is?”

“I try not to,” said Peter. “So you ready to leave this guy to the cops?”

“Sure thing,” said Johnny. “Race you back?”

Peter was already swinging away.

“Cheater!” Johnny yelled, and raced after him.

Johnny won, obviously, but only by a moment. Peter swung in right behind him, uniform bright against the sun. It amazed Johnny how one primary-colored costume could be so stunning by day and frightening by night.

“I let you win,” said Peter.

“Aw, because you love me.” Johnny tossed him his bomber jacket and jeans, which Peter caught in the air.

"Yeah, whatever," Peter grumbled and Johnny felt warm all over.

Johnny slipped his own clothes over his uniform and turned, expecting Peter to be doing the same. But the upper half of the Spider-Man costume was in Peter’s hands as he tried to get paste off it and Peter wasn’t wearing a shirt and Johnny could count his scars and his abs.

Johnny had a moment of heat flooding his entire body before he realized what Peter was doing.

“You’re the worst,” said Johnny, turning his back on him. “I don’t even know why I hang out with you.”

There was laughter in Peter’s voice. “I’m sorry, is my raw masculinity bothering you?”

“Many things about you bother me.”

“Including my sex appeal.”

“Including your stupidness.”

 “Stupidity.”

“That too.”

Johnny glanced over his shoulder. Peter had turned as well and Johnny could see the muscles in his back working. They looked tight and Johnny imagined offering a massage, running his hands over the nape of his neck, slipping his fingers beneath the mask to feel thick hair.

Johnny snapped his eyes forward. Maybe things weren’t quite as good with Reed with as he liked to pretend.

Besides even if – even if he was the kind of person who could do _that_ – it didn’t mean Peter would be offering. He flirted with everyone. But he only dated supermodels and cat burglars and girls that were so beautiful and funny and clever, it almost made Johnny want them himself. Just because Peter made snide comments about Reed, who he once seemed to hero worship, and just because Johnny knew how Peter's hand on his thigh felt, it didn’t mean that Peter would be interested in anything other than their close friendship.

And even if he was, it didn’t matter. Because Johnny was happy and in love and it didn’t matter at all.

“You wanna go get a coffee or something?” Johnny asked. He watched a lost orange balloon float into an enraged pigeon.

“Sure,” said Peter. “Just let me –,”

Johnny turned as Peter ducked into his shadow. They were suddenly much too close, close enough that Johnny could see the barest quirk of Peter’s lips as he pulled off his mask.

“Secrecy, you understand,” said Peter.

“Very important,” Johnny agreed. He reached out and fingered the zipper of Peter’s jacket, pulling it up an inch and then back down. “C’mon.”

Johnny flew Peter to the ground. A group of preteen girls walking out of a corner ice cream shop cheered.

Johnny preened as he signed autographs. One girl with glasses too big for her face asked Peter, “What’d he save you from?”

“He didn’t save me,” said Peter. “We were talking.”

“Don’t be shy, Pete.” Johnny grinned brilliantly for a selfie with the girl in a beret. “Being attacked by a squirrel is nothing to be ashamed of.”

The girl who wore a shirt that said “MJOLNIR IS MY OTHER RIDE” gasped. “Did you get in a fight with Squirrel Girl?”

“ _No,_ ” Peter grumbled. “You know she steals most of her act from Spider-Man, right?”

But she wasn’t listening as she turned to Johnny. “I know you’ve never talked to Thor, but what about Hawkeye?”

Peter burst out laughing. Johnny gasped.

“I talk to Thor all the time!” he said.

“Thor likes to ask him to make dry-cleaning runs,” said Peter.

“Shut up, Pete! That was one time!” Johnny looked around at the girls, who were all staring at him with wide eyes. “You guys want to meet She-Hulk?”

They cheered and Johnny thanked his lucky stars when Jen answered his FaceFime. The girl in the Thor shirt burst out crying when Jen said Thor came to bingo nights and the girl in the beret nearly fainted when Jen said she liked her beret and the girl in the glasses nodded seriously while Jen explained there was no need to be afraid of squirrels, which are largely docile animals. Eight minutes later, Peter and Johnny were waving at the girls as they went on their way. 

“Have I talked to _Hawkeye?_ ” Johnny asked. “Frickin’ Hawkeye! Did she even know who she was talking to? I’ve fought Galactus! Do you think Hawkeye’s ever fought Galactus?”

“Dunno,” said Peter, waving away the steam that was literally coming out of Johnny’s ears. “I can never get through a conversation with that guy.”

“Exactly. Thank you. Jeez.”

“You’re good with kids though,” said Peter. When Johnny glanced at him, his eyes were carefully trained ahead. “Have you and Reed ever . . .?”

Johnny chewed on his lip. It was strange – he never thought the cold affected him until he felt his own chapped lips.

“We’ve never really – talked about it, no,” he said. “I think he’s probably too busy for a family, but, I mean – okay, this is gonna sound so weird, but you know when Reed and Sue dated?”

“Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. Who could forget?”

Johnny swallowed. Things weren’t as bad as they used to be but it was difficult, sometimes, to be remembered as the guy who broke up _Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl._ Even if he didn’t. The guy who turned Mr. Fantastic gay. Even if he didn’t. The guy who tore apart his family. Even he definitely didn’t.

It gave him a whole new level of sympathy for Yoko Ono.

“It’s Invisible Woman now,” said Johnny.

Peter cast him a strange look. “Sure. And what abut Reed and Sue?”

“Well, when they were dating, when I just a kid basically and Reed didn’t ever look at me twice, I remember thinking how I couldn’t wait for them to get married and have kids. I wanted to be the cool uncle so bad. And I definitely would have been, way cooler than Ben.”

“Like that’s hard. Ben gave me toothpaste for Hanukkah.”

“Stop complaining about that, you didn’t get him anything.”

“Nothing would have been better than toothpaste.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “What I’m saying is that I love kids. I . . . want kids. More than anything. No matter whose they are, I guess.” He laughed a little. “God, that makes me sound like a freak.”

Peter play-slugged his arm. “Hey, if you ever wanna kidnap anyone, let me know. That’s what friends are for.”

Johnny smiled as they ducked under an awning into the coffee shop.

“Ugh, I hate that barista,” said Peter, frowning at the sweaty guy taking orders.

“I have never seen him before in my life,” said Johnny.

“So then you should trust me when I say he’s the worst.”

“I refuse to trust anything you . . .”

Johnny’s voice trailed off as he caught sight of a table in the corner where Reed and Sue were sitting, laughing over nearly empty cups of coffee. Peter followed his gaze.

“Oh, hey. You wanna go say hi and I’ll order for you?”

“Uh, sure. Get me something vanilla.” Johnny turned in time to see Peter wrinkle his nose, and somehow, that gave Johnny the courage to smile. “You’re the best.”

“Yeah, sure,” he grumbled and Johnny laughed as he made his way to the corner table.

Sue saw him first, something Johnny couldn’t decipher flitting across her face before she grinned and waved. Reed turned and Johnny searched him for anything out of place but he smiled easily and stood.

“If it isn’t the loveliest boy in town,” said Reed, sweeping him into his arms. Johnny noticed the people around them casting furtive glances.

“Hi,” said Johnny, trying to push the darkness in his chest out as Reed held him close. “I thought you two were working?”

“Your sister is absolutely a genius, and so I was treating her to some coffee,” said Reed. He pulled a chair over with a stretched out arm and a few people around them applauded, but of course, Reed paid them no mind. “I was actually just telling her that it really is a waste that she hasn’t gotten her doctorate.”

“I’m happy where I am,” said Sue. She leaned across the table to kiss Johnny’s cheek and despite everything, Johnny felt like a flower drawn to her light.

“He’s right though,” said Johnny. He took Reed’s hand in his, just to see if Sue blinked. She didn’t. “You’re a genius. I know you couldn’t go that far in school because of me, but what’s stopping you now?”

“Hey,” said Sue. She reached across the table to grab Johnny’s free hand. “I went exactly as far as I wanted. I got my degree. I have the Fantastic Four. I have _you_. I’m good with that.”

Johnny smiled a little, even as he wondered what the heck was wrong with him today. He was happy. He was really, really happy.

He just wished, sometimes, that Reed had broken up with Sue, and not the other way around. Which was such an awful thing to think that he hated himself for it.

“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?” Peter asked as he dragged a chair from an occupied table without asking. He plopped down next to Sue. “Hey, I got something for you, pretty lady.”

Smirking, Sue propped her chin on the palm of her hand. “Go on.”

Peter leaned his face so close to Sue’s that their noses nearly brushed. Johnny’s stomach tightened.

“Are you a magician?” he asked in what Johnny imagined he thought was a sultry voice. His regular voice was sultrier. “Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears.”

Sue raised her eyebrow.

“I now see the irony of that statement,” said Peter. “Here’s your drink, Johnny.”

Johnny sipped the frothy whipped drink that Peter passed his way. He gave Peter a thumb’s up.

“How are you, Peter?” asked Reed, oddly formal. He rubbed his thumb against Johnny’s.

“Pretty good, Dr. Richards,” said Peter. “And yourself?”

Reed frowned. “I don’t know what this ‘Dr. Richards’ business is about, but I’m well, thank you.”

Peter slurped his drink and for a moment, they sat in a silence that bordered on awkward. Johnny wished Ben were here. Ben was immune to awkward. 

“I was actually encouraging Sue to pursue her doctorate,” said Reed. “I know that you’ve been attending grad school again –,”

“Eh, I dropped out,” said Peter. “Again.”

“Oh.” Reed look so completely lost that it was almost funny. Johnny used to envy Reed’s intellect, but at times like these, he imagined it was awful difficult to be the smartest person in the room.

“So, um, I was thinking about asking Ben and Alicia if they wanted to get dinner tonight,” Johnny told Reed. “What do you think?”

Reed’s face dropped a little and Johnny wished he’d never spoken.

“Aw, love, I’m sorry, but I’m probably gonna be out tonight. Work’s pretty intense right now. Maybe next week?”

Johnny nodded rapidly. “Sure. Yeah. Totally. Um, I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick. Be right back.”

Reed opened his mouth, but Johnny hurried away. In the restroom, he looked at himself in the mirror, debating whether it would be too obvious to splash water on his face. He felt like he was crawling out of his skin. This whole day seemed better off over right when it started.

“What is wrong with me?” he asked the empty bathroom. He shoved his hands in jean pockets, starting when his fingers brushed something. He pulled out a piece of paper, like the one he’d found in his F4 uniform. He unfolded it and saw another message: _Touching you is like touching a livewire, but way more fun._

Johnny’s breath left him. Reed must have slipped the paper into his pocket when they hugged. And here he was, being so stupid about Peter and Sue and everything.

He returned back to the table and kissed Reed long and hard.

When he pulled away, Reed gave him a funny smile. “What was that for?”

“You know,” said Johnny, and Reed’s smile widened.

But even as Johnny tried to lose himself in Reed, for all his efforts, he could still feel the gaze of Peter and Sue.

 -x-

Sue walked into the club like she wanted to be there. Maybe if she pretended hard enough, it would become true.

“That’s not THE Sue Storm, is it?” asked Jen, standing to her full seven foot, one-inch frame (with heels). She had a drink in her hand and rushed over to hug Sue.

“Ooh, watch the hands,” said Sue, and Jen slapped her butt. “How many have you had?”

“Enough to be having a good time,” Jen said. “God, you look hot. Did you get your hair cut?”

“A little bit,” said Sue, shaking out her shoulder-length hair.

“I would totally make out with you if I thought that’s what you needed.” Jen grabbed her hand and led her past the pool, where drunk people were trying not to drown. A deep bass to a hit pop song reverberated in Sue’s bones.

This wasn’t exactly what she had in mind when she said she wanted a girl’s night. But she let Jen plan, and this is what happened.

Emma Frost sat in a white pantsuit she somehow made glamorous, and Ororo Munroe’s crop top showed off her killer abs, and Alicia wore a swimsuit under her dress, and Alyssa looked like she might murder the first person who splashed her.

“I didn’t know it was a pool party,” said Alyssa, gesturing down at her own long, slinky black dress. It looked velvet. “You cannot have pool parties in winter.”

“You can when it’s an indoor pool!” Jen sang.

“I didn’t know either,” said Sue. Her outfit was cute, ripped jeans and flowy orange blouse, but hardly fit for clubbing. She thought they might go to a dive bar. “If I wasn’t part of the Fantastic Four, I doubt I’d get in.”

“You look hot,” said Jen, whose mini dress showed off miles of green. “Not a day over thirty-two.”

Sue rolled her eyes, but couldn’t fight a smile.

“Speaking of which,” Alyssa said as she sipped her clear drink, which was probably straight vodka, “how old’s the baby now?”

“Aw, don’t call him that,” Alicia said with a giggle. “He hates it.”

“He pretends to hate it,” said Sue. “He’s twenty-seven.”

Emma whistled. “Never took Richards for a cradle robber.”

“We’ll have to watch him when he comes to Xavier’s,” said Ororo and they cracked up.

“Ha ha, yes, it’s hilarious when your older ex-boyfriend-slash-teammate falls madly in love with your baby brother,” Sue said. She dropped down next to Alyssa. “What’s a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?”

“Honey, I’ve got you covered,” Jen said and trotted to the bar. The whole club seemed to part for her.

“So what’d Reed do now?” asked Alyssa, playing with the ends of Sue’s hair. “Tell it to someone who understands.”

“He’s just . . .” Sue blew a breath from her mouth. “Perfect.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Emma drawled, fingers flying across her phone.

“I don’t know what it is everyone sees in him,” Alicia said. “I swear that if he confessed his love for Ben, he’d leave me in a heartbeat.”

“Ben would never,” said Sue. She thought about it. “Well, maybe when you first met, but not anymore.”

“Thanks for the reassurance,” Alicia said.

“I can see the appeal,” said Ororo. Her strip of hair tickled her eye as she winked at some girl who kept glancing their way. “Naturally, once you marry the Black Panther, it is difficult to find other men of his caliber, but Reed’s very . . . smart, and that's charming. He's pasty though.”

“Have you or have you not fucked the Wolverine?” asked Emma.

“I refuse to comment,” she said, smirking around the rim of her glass.

“Reed’s something you have to experience to understand,” Alyssa said. “But I have experienced it and, boy, do I _understand._ And this was before he got stretchy.”

“He ages well,” Sue said, and the women collapsed into giggles.

Jen returned with Sue’s drink. “What’s so funny?”

“Reed Richards’ dick,” said Alyssa.

Jen wrinkled her nose. “I could crush that man like a twig.”

Sue took a swig of her drink and coughed at the burn. “What the hell is this? It’s pretty damn strong.”

“Are you complaining?” asked Jen with a raised brow.

“No,” Sue murmured, and took a slower sip.

They chatted about their lives, gladly accepting drinks the scantily clad waiters and waitresses offered them, and it went to Sue’s head quick. Maybe not her healthiest drinking decision, but she had made plenty of healthy decisions when she was young and bringing up Johnny before she even understood who she was. And if she ever had kids of her own – well. No time like the present to let loose a little.

Besides, it was _so good_ to spend some time with women. She loved her boys but they didn’t understand, couldn’t understand, what it was like to be the one girl on the team. How she always had to be calm and collected, never losing her cool. How any weakness shown would not only reflect poorly on her or the team, but on women everywhere.

It was nice to forget that for the night. Even if it was because of a stupid crush she couldn’t get out of her system.

The girl who had been eyeing them found the courage to sidle over. Her dreadlocks swung against the bare skin revealed by her bikini top. She gave Ororo a shy but practiced smile.

Ah, to be young again.

“Are you Storm from the X-Men?” she asked.

Ororo arched a brow. “That would be me.”

“Do you wanna dance?” she asked.

Ororo laughed and took the girl’s hand, leading her out to the dance floor. “Well, I suppose what the King doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Sue watched them go. The techno music, spinning in circles as the DJ worked her magic, beat underneath Sue’s skin. Her eyes caught on a sequined red dress and a man’s broad hands against it.

“Is that Peter Parker?” she asked no on in particular.

“Who?” asked Alyssa.

Sue stood up, wobbling a little on her feet and made her way out to the dance floor.

“Peter!” she yelled, walking up to him and the girl. She was vaguely familiar to Sue, and intensely beautiful. Sue thought she might have seen her on TV.

Peter turned at the sound of his own name, eyes widening. He looked a little sheepish, like he was embarrassed to be caught at a club. He grinned crookedly and she grinned back.

“Oh my god!” yelled the girl. “Hi!”

“Hi!” Sue said, laughing. “Who’s your friend, Pete?”

“Uh, Mary Jane Watson! Mary Jane, this is Sue Storm.”

“Duh,” said Mary Jane. “You are, like. So cool. And beautiful. Wow. I’m totally breathless.”

Sue beamed. “You, I like. Is Johnny here?”

“Oh, _Johnny,”_ said Mary Jane, dramatically falling back into Peter’s arms. He didn’t look amused as he pushed her to her feet. “I _wish_ Johnny were here. He is so much more fun than Peter. I basically had to drag him out of bed. It’s a miracle he agreed to dance with me. And I bet he wishes he were with Johnny too – _hey_.”

Peter slapped a hand over Mary Jane’s mouth and from the way Mary Jane’s face moved, Sue assumed she was licking him, but he didn’t budge.

“She’s high,” said Peter. “Can’t trust a word she says. Anyway, I really should be going. You know, people to save – through the power of journalism –,”

Mary Jane rolled her eyes, and Sue wondered if she knew.

“C’mon,” Sue said, and she watched her own hand reach out to tug at Peter’s collar. “One dance.”

Peter watched her hand as well. His grip loosened on Mary Jane, who burst free.

“Yeah, okay,” he said. “One dance.”

He pulled Sue close and she didn’t know what on earth she was doing. This kid was one of Johnny’s best friends and it was – weird. But the music was in her body and she had Peter, a little stiff, on one side, and Mary Jane, completely fluid, on the other, and there were hands everywhere. And she didn’t know who kissed who, but Peter’s lips moved against hers and she let them.

Until she couldn't.

“Okay,” she said, patting Peter’s chest. “I think – I’ve had a lot to drink.”

“Me too,” said Peter, and he did look a little sick, but his mouth had tasted like Spearmint gum, not booze.

“Alright, well. It was good seeing you.”

“Yeah.”

They didn’t meet each other’s eyes as she walked away, but she heard Mary Jane say, “How come _you_ got to kiss her?”

“Looks like Reed isn’t the only one who likes them young,” said Emma when Sue returned.

“He’s not that young,” said Sue. “He’s Johnny’s friend –,”

“Ah,” Alyssa said. “I see.”

“I’m Johnny’s friend too!” Jen swung her foot to kick lightly at Sue’s shin. “If you wanted to get back at him, you could have made out with me.”

“I wasn’t getting back at Johnny!” Sue said. No one looked at her. “I wasn’t. I’m just – I’m gonna go, okay? Tell ‘Ro I said bye.”

Alicia placed her fingers to the inside of Sue’s wrist. “If you need to talk about anything . . . Well. You know where I live.”

Sue smiled, even though Alicia couldn’t see it. She hoped she heard it in her voice. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Sue called an Uber. The drive back to the Baxter Building was long and quiet. When the Uber driver asked, “Are you Captain Marvel?” she was happy to say, “Nope.”

She tipped the driver generously for not talking to her and then dragged her feet as she went to the Baxter Building. As much as she loved being in the Fantastic Four, it was times like these when she wished she had a place of her own. Her phone buzzed.

 

JOHNNY

Reed’s still up. Can you check on him? Don’t wanna seem clingy lol

 

Sue sighed as another text buzzed in.

 

JOHNNY

I would ask Ben, but you know he goes to sleep on old man time!! But you’re always up!! You're the best!!

 

Sue sent back a quick _sure_  and received a multitude of heart-eye emojis _._ As she made her way to the lab, she tried to pretend that she didn’t miss those nights, awake in bed, reading or watching TV or doing something she loved on her own. Dozing off and waking when Reed nestled into bed right before dawn, wrapping his arms around her. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” he’d whisper and she’d whisper back, “Too late now,” and kiss him.

She imagined the same scenario playing out with Johnny, but it was strange and stilted. Johnny had never been good at being alone.

She made her way to the lab. It was dark and quiet, everyone home and in bed by now. But there was Reed’s office, the lone light. His back was to her as he scrawled formulas across a whiteboard, brain moving faster than his hand ever could.

“Hey,” she said, poking her head inside. He didn’t stop and she rolled her eyes. This scene was all too familiar. She grabbed a piece of paper from the trash, crumpled it up and flung it at the back of his head.

He jumped and spun around.

“You’re lucky I didn’t have a gun,” she said.

He laughed, breathless. “You planning to kill me, Susan?”

“Maybe. I like to keep my options open.”

“You already handle all of the business side of the F4. If you wanted to ruin me, I’m sure there are easier ways.” He rolled his neck, a complete circle. “What time is it?”

“Two. In the morning.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I told Johnny I’d be in by nine. At night. Last night.”

“See, that’s one thing I don’t get about you guys." 

"Hmm?"

She moved closer. "I'm not saying it's bad, but it's different. With us, I always forced you to, you know, eat and sleep and all that, but he lets you stay down here every night. And you let him let you.” She wasn’t even sure what words were staying inside her and what words were coming out. They all felt distant and soft in the dim lab and the buzz in her head. “He says he doesn’t want to seem clingy. I personally, think it’s because he still sees you as something of a, a leader. Or, uh, a father figure. Kid’s got issues, but I mean, so do I." Her vision swam. Reed, at the other side of the room, was an illusion. "Do you like it? I mean, probably, or you wouldn’t still be with him. Oh my god, when you guys are together, in bed, does he call you Da –,”

“Are you drunk?” Reed asked, peering over at her as if she were a particularly illusive specimen he was studying.

“Nooo.” She went to lean on his desk, but it was farther away than she anticipated, and she stumbled a little. She grinned. “Convinced?”

Reed’s face was something between disappointed and fond and she hated how beautiful he was. He reached out to help her.

“I hate you,” she said, and he froze. “That sounds harsh. Sorry. What I mean is - I hate that you’re still so nice to me. Even though I broke your heart. I hate that I can’t agree when someone calls you an asshole because I know how good you are. I hate that you believe in me more than anyone believes in me, except maybe your boyfriend, which is all sorts of fucked up. I hate that you’re almost forty and not balding at all.”

Reed’s lips were parted. “I . . . you’re drunk.”

“Yeah,” she said. Her eyes stung. “I guess so. Hey, what’s that?”

“Sue, no –,”

He could have stopped her if he tried, but maybe for a moment, he forgot about his powers, or maybe a part of him wanted her to see. She snatched the velvet black box from his desk and opened it.

“Your mother’s ring,” she breathed. “Your mother’s – I think I’m gonna be sick.”

She swayed and he rushed to her side. His hands were warm and strong against her. She wanted to push him away. She wanted to pull him closer.

“You’re asking him – with this,” she said. “Not to stereotype, but it's kind of girly, don't you think? I mean, you were gonna ask me with this. And now you’re just –,”

“You left me, Susan,” said Reed, voice gentle but firm. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. His hands pushed hair away from her face. “I promise that I’m not telling you this to hurt you, but I need you to remember it. _You_ left me. And what I do now? That’s not up to you.”

“We were so young,” she whispered. “I was nineteen when we started and you were – what, twenty-three? I needed to see who I was without you. Didn’t you wonder anything like that?”

Reed’s hand pushed more strands of hair out of her eyes and she looked up into his, deep and endless and so kind.

“No,” he said. "I never wondered."

And here, for this moment, she knew that he was rewarding her honesty with his own. She was grateful for it and she hated it. She wished he would lie. She wished he would tell her everything. 

"Does he make you happy?" she asked. "Like I used to make you happy?" 

"That's a complicated question -," 

She shook her head. "It's not. I know you think you're so smart and that everything is big and complicated, but it's really not." 

"He makes me smile," Reed said simply. "He's easy to love." 

Sue knew Johnny was easy to love. Even when he was hotheaded and a brat, he would look at you with those big eyes and that dimpled smile and you'd melt. He was quick to anger, but quicker to forgive. He thought he was cool, but in reality, he wore his whole heart on his sleeve and Sue was always terrified someone would see and pluck it from him and hurt him beyond repair. And people did, they left him over and over, but when it came to love, he was still fearless.

The two of them were pieces of a puzzle that didn't look like they would fit, but did anyhow. Sue, who was quiet and withdrawn and could hold a grudge longer than Reed could stretch. When she tried acting because she was living in LA and it seemed like the thing to do, she was told she had a pretty face but was too cold to make anyone care for it. When the F4 became overnight sensations, the paparazzi yelled, "Smile, sweetheart, aren't you happy to be here?" And so she smiled and she said she was happy even though she didn't know what that meant.

She supposed that long before she could make her body disappear, she had been invisible.

Except, of course, to Reed. 

"You're right," she told him when she began to feel too comfortable in his arms. "This would all be so much less complicated if Johnny wasn't so damn lovable."

She pulled away from him and walked out the door. He let her go.

 -x-

_You’re the kinda guy Helen left Sparta for._

Johnny fingered the note, rolling it into a ball and unrolling it again. He had a stash now, where he put all the messages he found hidden in his pockets (and, once, in his hair), and he liked them to be as crease free as possible. But he had found this one thirty minutes ago and he couldn't see to stop rolling it.

On the coffee table, his phone was lit up with a message.

 

REED ♥♥♥

Can’t make it today – gotta work. Give Ben my love xoxo

 

“What’s got you lookin’ so down in the dumps?” Ben asked as he lumbered in with two beers. He tossed the lite one to Johnny.

“Reed can’t make it,” said Johnny. “He’s gotta work.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Gettin’ that guy to come out for boy’s night is like herdin’ a buncha cats. Aw, well, more for us. Popcorn?”

Ben held out a bowl of kernels and Johnny placed his hand under it, warming himself just enough that the kernels began to pop.

“Ben, can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Ben said, shaking the bowl to make unpopped kernels fall to the bottom.

“Did I – oh, never mind.”

“Keep goin'. Now you got me curious.”

“Do you think . . .” He cooled off his hand and the popping slowed to a stop. “Am I the reason Reed and Sue aren't together?”

“Buddy, you must think pretty high of yourself if you think you could keep that sister of yours from getting what she wants.”

Johnny chewed his lip as Ben bent before the movie rack.

“I’m the reason Sue didn’t go after a lot of the things she wanted,” he said. “She had to take care of me, and so she didn’t go for her Masters –,”

“She also became a frickin' badass superhero. Not to mention CEO. Pretty good for no Masters. What do you wanna watch?”

“ _Titanic_.”

“ _Die Hard_ it is.” Ben plopped the movie into the DVD player and came back to the couch to nestle into the sofa beside Johnny. “Listen, kid, you gotta stop taking everyone else’s possible unhappiness on yourself. We all gotta figure out shit, you know? But what’s important is that you’re happy. Are you happy?”

Johnny rested his cheek against Ben’s rocky shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“Then figure that out first, okay, kid?”

The movie started and Johnny tried to pay attention, but ended up scrolling through Twitter on his phone. He tweeted: _Feeling blue – anyone got any pick-me-ups?_ and tried to smile at the immediate barrage of memes and funny stories. He went to the trending topics, saw INVISIBLE WOMAN and pressed it.

The top tweet was some TMZ article about Sue Storm getting hot and heavy with her new beaux in a club. Wrinkling his nose, he clicked on it.

The attached video was not great quality. But there were maybe four people in the world he could recognize as well as he could recognize himself, no matter the angle.

“Oh my god,” he said. “I have to go.”

“What?” Ben asked. “But it’s just getting good.”

Johnny was already standing, pulling on his coat, hands shaking as he did the buttons.

“Is everything ok, buddy? Is Reed okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Sorry. It’s nothing, but I gotta go. We’ll reschedule, okay?”

Sighing, Ben sidled back into the sofa. “More for me, I guess.”

“You’re the best, Ben!” Johnny yelled, running to the door. Once he was outside, he flamed on and launched himself into the air.

He flew to Peter Parker’s apartment and landed on the roof. He wrenched open the skylight and dropped into the bathroom. “Anyone home?” he yelled, moving into the living room.

Mary Jane Watson was laying in lacy underwear on the couch, watching _I Love Lucy_ reruns.

“Hey there, Tiger,” she said, giving him an upside down smile. “Looking for a good time?”

Johnny stared steadfastly at Lucy stuffing chocolates in her mouth. “Is Peter here?”

“I think he should be home right . . . about . . .” A thud sounded from the bathroom. “Now.”

“Guess who is turning into a giant lizard again!” Peter yelled. He came out of the bathroom, pulling his mask over his head so his hair stuck up in every direction. “That’s right, ladies and gents, it’s the one and only Curt – Matchstick.”

A giant grin spread across Peter’s face and it only infuriated Johnny more.

“Oh, you do not get to look at me like that, mister,” Johnny said. “Not when you’re screwing my sister and then having the nerve to mess around with some other chick when I come to confront you about it.”

“I resent that,” said Mary Jane.

“What are you – I’m not – MJ is crashing here while she looks for a place and she has an aversion to clothes.”

Johnny looked to Mary Jane for confirmation. She shrugged delicately. “I’m hot-blooded. Surely you understand.”

He huffed. “Well, that doesn’t explain why you were making out with my sister! ”

“I wasn’t –"

"Don't lie to me, I saw it on TMZ!"

"Ugh.” He ran both his hand through his hair, knotting it between his fingers. “She was drunk. We were dancing. She looked – it was stupid, okay?”

“Since when did you dance?” asked Johnny.

Peter glared at him. “I can dance just fine.”

“Beg to differ,” mumbled Mary Jane.

Johnny crossed his arms. “I can’t believe that you would – that Sue would –,”

“Would what, Johnny?” Peter took a step forward and he seemed angry now. Good. Fine. Be angry, for all Johnny cared. It was better than his stupid brilliant smile. “You can’t believe that two single people would drunkenly kiss at a club? Or you can’t believe that I’d kiss someone who isn’t you?”

“Stop,” Johnny whispered.

“Because I’ve kissed a lot of people who aren’t you actually,” Peter said, taking another step. “And I sure know you’ve kissed people who aren’t me.”

“I wasn’t saying –,”

“It’s almost like we aren’t dating.” They were nearly toe to toe. Johnny looked into Peter’s mahogany eyes and refused to look away, even when it became too much. “It’s almost like we were never dating and maybe it’s just time we accept that, huh?”

“Peter – if you think that I've - I haven't been trying to confuse you, or anything like that." He didn't come here to cry, he didn't want to cry, not in front of Peter, not because of this. "I thought we were friends."

Peter closed his eyes. "We are friends." He opened them again. "Of course we're friends."

"And you know I have Reed."

An ugly grin split Peter's face. "Yeah.  _Reed."_

Johnny felt his insides lighting up. "You used to pop a total nerd boner whenever you were in the same room as him and now you hate him?"

"That's not -," 

"God, you're such a control freak." 

"He treats you like shit!" said Peter, and he wasn't yelling, but he was dangerously close. His fists were curled and Johnny was worried he would punch a hole through a wall. "No, not like shit, like - like you're his plaything until something better comes around."

Johnny's eyes stung. "That's not true." 

But Peter refused to back down. "Yeah, it is. I can tell because I am well-acquainted with how it feels to be someone's emotional affair, this time with 50% less guilt." 

"I'd never -," A tear leaked from the corner of Johnny's eye. "Reed wouldn't -,"

"I know you think that, firebug." And the way Peter was looking at him was almost kind, the set of his mouth nearly gentle. That was Peter Parker in a nutshell: nearly gentle. "But it really fucking sucks when the person you care about more than anything in the world only wants you to make him feel wanted. Sometimes it drives you to do things you shouldn't." His eyes were like dried leaves and bark and Johnny thought he could light up from them alone. "Kiss people you shouldn't."  

He waited for Johnny to speak, but Johnny didn't have anything to say. Or maybe he did, but he couldn't remember what it was.

“I’m going back out,” Peter said, turning his back on Johnny. He pulled the mask over his head. “Go back to your boyfriend, Storm.”

There was the sound of the skylight opening, and then nothing.

“Oreo?” Mary Jane asked, holding out a packet to him. Johnny took one.

“Thanks,” he said and left the building through the front door.

He flew to the Baxter Building. In a haze, he went to his and Reed’s apartment and sat on the floor of the living room. He remembered the first time Reed ever kissed him. They were at some fancy fundraising gala and Johnny sat alone on a balcony because some girl's boyfriend wanted to kill him for flirting with her. And Reed came and joined him and he looked at him like he was something that was so worth looking at. And Johnny had never been Reed’s favorite of course, not when Sue was there and Ben, but it was just them and Johnny made some dumb joke that made Reed laugh. And Reed asked him to dance on the balcony. And Reed kissed him. And Johnny had never felt so loved. So wanted.

Reed had an uncanny ability to make you feel like the only person in the world, and sometimes it was beautiful, and sometimes, it was unbearably lonely.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number he knew by heart.

“Hey, guy,” said Sue on the first ring.

Johnny smiled. “Hi.”

“What’s up? You okay?”

“Just wanted to hear your voice,” Johnny said. “I miss you. I feel like we never see each other outside the team anymore.”

“Huh. I guess you’re right. That sucks.”

“Yeah,” said Johnny. He swallowed. “Plus we need to talk about your new boyfriend. Peter Parker, huh?”

She groaned and it made Johnny laugh, alone in his home.

“We've all made mistakes, bro. Some more than others."

“I know,” said Johnny.

"You wanna hear something wild?"

"Always."

"I kind of thought my new boyfriend was into you."

Johnny's heart clenched. "Yeah?" 

"I mean, maybe not seriously or anything. But a crush. You remember that time we went into space?"

"We're the Fantastic Four, Sue. I need specifics." 

He could almost hear her rolling her eyes. "That time we went into space with a man dressed like a giant, colorful spider." 

"Oh, yeah, I remember that." 

"You and Reed were bothering Ben while he was flying. And we were drifting away from Earth and it was absolutely gorgeous. The brightest blue you've ever seen, with just enough green to make it interesting."

He closed his eyes, remembering. 

"And Spider-Man leans over to me, and he says, 'That's what your brother's eyes look like.' And I totally got it."

Johnny's eyes flew open. "Peter said that?" 

"Mm-hm. I remember thinking how weird it was, it was so - understated and poetic, coming from him. I thought he'd ask you out, but he never did, and then of course . . ."

"Reed," Johnny said. 

Sue sighed, long and hard, in agreement. "Reed."

Johnny watched the dipping sun through the window turn the skyscrapers pink and gold. The city seemed to be melting into something else, something new.

“Hey," said Johnny.

"Hey," said Sue.

"I’m about to do something crazy. Wish me luck?”

“Depends. What are you about to do?”

“Try to be happy. Maybe.”

Sue was quiet. And then she said, “Good luck.”

Johnny went down to the lab. He never went to the lab. That was Reed’s place. Reed’s place with Sue. It was full of big ideas and knowledge and he didn’t belong here one bit. A few people working nodded at him and he smiled as he went to Reed’s office. It was nice that even down here, where he never went, someone knew him.

“Hey,” Johnny said to Reed, hunched over his computer. His fingers flew across the keys at inhuman speed. “Hey, Reed?”

Nothing. He was so involved in his work.

“You’re the kind of guy that Helen would leave Sparta for.”

Reed glanced up at him. No recognition sparked in his gaze and Johnny’s heart sunk.

“Sorry?” Reed asked.

“When I touch you . . . it’s like a livewire.”

But Reed was already working again. “I don’t have time for this right now, Johnny.”

Johnny closed his eyes, a lone tear slipping down his cheek. “I’m so stupid.”

“What? Honey, no.”

The sound of wheels squeaking and Reed was coming over to hold Johnny, at last. And Johnny sunk into him but he didn’t know if this was what he wanted anymore.

“What’s going on, darling?” Reed asked. “What’s this about?”

Johnny tilted his head up to meet Reed’s gaze. “I’m going to ask you an honest question. Is that cool?”

“Of course.”

“Do you love me?”

“Of –,”

“More than you love Sue?”

Reed opened his mouth, probably to pronounce just how deeply he loved Johnny, but he must have seen something in Johnny’s eyes that got the words stuck in his throat.

“It’s okay,” Johnny said, even though it wasn’t. “I don’t think I love you more than Sue either.”

Reed sighed and leaned his forehead against Johnny’s. For a long time, they stood there, arms wrapped around each other, foreheads touching, eyes closed. Johnny had always heard that closing your eyes when you were kissing someone meant that you loved them, and he believed it. But sometimes, closing your eyes simply meant you couldn't bear to see them as they were.

Quietly, Reed asked, “Is this the second time a Storm is going to break my heart?”

It almost made him want to laugh. Johnny had never broken anyone's heart before, not in a serious way. Sue broke hearts. She made people fall in love with her and she left them. People settled for Johnny until they found something better. 

“I don’t think I have enough of you to break,” he said.

Reed pulled back, his thumb skimming along Johnny’s jaw. “You might be surprised.”

“Don’t you worry,” Johnny said. The inside of him felt like it was splintering, but also like it was weaving itself back together. “I’m sure you’ll miss my sensual lovemaking, but other than that, you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll miss how you can make me laugh like no one else,” said Reed. “That’s what I’ll miss.”

Johnny wanted to burst into flames and fly away and never return. He kept talking instead. “Hey, I’m not quitting the Fantastic Four, okay? You’ll have plenty of laughter to come.”

And Johnny pulled himself from Reed’s arms, from Reed’s touch, from Reed’s strength and his wisdom. Strength and wisdom could only get you so far, in the end. Sometimes you just needed guts.

“Hey, Reed?” Johnny said when he reached the door.

“Hm?” Reed looked up from where he was staring at his own hands.

“If you're gonna ask Sue to marry you or whatever, do it soon. Her biological clock’s ticking.”

And Reed laughed his booming laugh, as if he were startled that Johnny was funny at all. And Johnny knew that he would miss the sound of Reed’s laughter early in the morning and late at night and in between kisses, but he wouldn’t miss that surprise.

-x- 

Johnny taped a message to Peter Parker’s skylight.

_Your eyes are like staring into the Grand Canyon and when you touch me, I feel like a livewire, and I might be the kind of guy that a girl would leave Sparta for, but you’re the kind of guy that a guy would kill the entire Trojan army for (I googled the Iliad – turns out the movie Troy was lying and the hot dude from Tron is NOT Brad Pitt’s cousin! Who would have thought! Anyway, what I’m trying to saying is, I'm single and I'm sorry and maybe this is a bit too soon, but I really like you. I think I always liked you. Do you like me? Check yes or no.)_

He left it at that.

 -x-

 

Sue couldn't decide what was sadder: a club populated by drunk twenty-somethings with your friends, or a bar with drunk old people, alone. She was sure that Johnny probably knew a place way more appropriate to hang out, but if she asked, he'd start hinting that he wanted to come along, and she might be too consumed with guilt to even get drunk. 

Johnny and Reed. They were done.

She didn't know the details - Johnny, for perhaps the first time in his life, was extremely tight-lipped about it all. But she knew that Ben was splitting his time between Johnny and Reed, and neither one of them seemed to want to spend any time with her. Alicia told her that Johnny was bunking with Ben now, and it hurt that he hadn't told her.

One day, after driving the Mole Man back into the ground, she grabbed Johnny on the way into the Fantasticar. 

"Honey," she said, trying not to grip his arm too hard, "you know that whatever's going on, you can talk to me about it, right? My history with Reed and all that, it doesn't matter. You and me, that's what matters." 

He smiled at her and she searched the smile for any traces of a lie.

"I know," he said, placing a hand over hers. "But I promise you I'm okay. I just - I think I need some time to figure things out on my own." He flicked her nose. "You've had the last few years to find out what you like in the bedroom when your boyfriend can't make his dick as big as you want. Give me a few weeks." 

She scrunched up her nose and pushed him into the car. But god, she hoped this whole thing wasn't her fault. Even though she had been a drunken, pining idiot, the last thing she ever wanted was to cause her family pain. 

"This place is gross," she heard a vaguely familiar voice say, too loud in the dingy bar. "Why are we here?" 

"I'm sick of clubs," said a much more familiar voice. Her shoulders stiffened. "Music sucks." 

"Oh my god, you are actually the only person in the entire world who hates music." 

"Plus, I think the Sandman comes here."

"Like that's some sort of gleaming recommendation?" 

"He's trying to turn his life around, okay?" 

And Sue couldn't help turning to Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson as they sat at the barstools next to hers. "We have got to stop meeting like this."

Mary Jane broke into a grin and she immediately leaned forward to hug Sue. Peter looked a little sheepish. 

"Don't worry," Sue said. "I'm not gonna jump you." 

Peter grinned, holding his hands up in offering. "Aw, come on, it takes two to make out in a club." 

"Not a saying," Mary Jane sung. She waved over the bartender. "I'll have something pink, thanks." 

The gritty bartender arched his grey-fuzz eyebrows. "How 'bout some gin or whiskey? That's more impressive for a lady." 

"Do I  _look_ like I'm trying to impress you?" 

He grumbled as he set about making something. 

"My friend'll have a Rum and Coke, hold the rum!" she called. 

"You guys probably think I have such a drinking problem," said Sue. She shook her beer. "I swear this is my first one of the night." 

"We're here, too, aren't we?" said Peter. He cleared his throat. "Look. I really am sorry about - uh. Not calling." 

Sue laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "I promise I was not sitting around waiting for your call. I wasn't really, um, thinking with my head. If you know what I mean." 

"He knows exactly what you mean," said Mary Jane as Peter grinned, clearly pleased. "I mean, you're the whole package. And by whole package, I mean, you're smart, have nice tits, and look like Johnny -," 

" _Mary Jane."_

Sue sputtered a laugh. "What?" 

"It's true!" Mary Jane elbowed Peter in his side when he tried to poke her. "Kid's been carrying a torch for so long - ha, carrying a Torch, that's pretty good -," 

"For the record!" Peter said, succeeding in poking her into temporary silence. "I think of you as more than your - you know -," 

He made a vague motion around his chest. 

"Thanks," said Sue dryly.

"He gets so bashful when you bring up the J-word," Mary Jane persisted. "Like you're not the fifth blue-eyed, blonde-haired woman whose throat I've caught his tongue down this year." She turned to Peter. "It's a problem, honestly. Liz Allan keeps finding excuses not to be alone with you." 

"You know my brother's single now, right?" Sue asked. 

"So I've heard," grumbled Peter. 

"He's such an asshole, refusing to do anything about it," said Mary Jane. "I hate him."

"Sitting right here." 

"Wouldn't have said it otherwise."

"Look," said Peter, rubbing a hand over his face, "I gave him a lot of shit about it, but he was happy with Reed. Reed's - rich, and I guess, good-looking, if you're into that smarmy, pretentious, know-it-all vibe -," 

Mary Jane coughed pointedly, but he ignored her. 

"So even if he is into me -," 

"And he is, he practically spray-painted it across your skylight -,"

"Then he'll just end up resenting me forever and things will get weird between us and that's the last thing I want." 

"Things could not possibly be weirder between you two than they already are," Mary Jane mumbled.

"Johnny didn't break up with Reed for you though," said Sue, her brow furrowed. Peter glanced at her, and away. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he did it because he wasn't actually as happy as he wanted us all to think he was." She stared at her beer, thinking of bright, easy-to-love Johnny, pretending for her sake, for his own. "But no matter why he did it, it was his choice, you know? He told me he wanted to try to be happy, and we can't take that from him, we've just got to . . . to try to be . . ."

She looked up at Peter and Mary Jane, who were both staring at her as if kind of confused about where she was going with all this. 

"I'm a fucking hypocrite," she told them. 

The bartender slid Mary Jane's pink drink and Peter's Coke into place. Mary Jane reached for her purse, but Sue slammed some bills on the bar first. 

"This round's on me," she said, and Mary Jane beamed. 

"Don't leave a good tip," said Peter. "How long does it take to pour a glass of Coke?" 

The bartender flipped him off. Sue laughed as she kissed them both on the cheek and made for the exit. 

She couldn't bother with a cab, slipping out of view and projecting an invisible shield to fly her the rest of the way home. It might have been a bit dangerous because her mind was in so many places at once and she could barely focus on keeping the shield solid beneath her feet and her body unseen as she flew above pedestrians. But that was what made it so thrilling.

She touched down in front of the Baxter Building and ran up to it, pushing open the door. 

"Sue?" 

She spun around and saw Reed on the pavement, staring at her in a distant way that meant he couldn't actually see her. She flickered into view. A passing couple screamed.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"I always know when you're there," said Reed. "Also, doors opening of their own volition tend to mean you're around."

She flushed as she laughed, and took a step forward. He stepped closer too. They were oppositely charged magnets, and maybe they were always coming to this. 

"Have you been avoiding me?"

"No." 

He raised an eyebrow, and she grinned. "Maybe a little." 

Reed nodded, like he figured as such. "And do you hate me?"

Sue couldn't help her startled laugh. "What?" 

"I never did forget the speech you gave when I started dating Johnny. What would happen to me if I hurt him. It kept me up at night." 

"I did get pretty creative." She peered at him, at the bright winter's light glinting off his summer-brown hair. "And did you hurt him?" 

He downcast his eyes. "I'm afraid I did. But I didn't mean to." Slowly, he met her eyes again. "I'm afraid I hurt a lot of people."

"That makes two of us." She reached out and took his hand. He looked surprised for a moment, and she loved his surprise. When you could do what Reed could do, not a lot of people reached out first. When you knew what Reed knew, not a lot of things surprised you. "You know how I left you to find myself?" 

"Mm, yes, I haven't forgotten quite yet." 

"You know what I found?" 

"A hunky king of the ocean who isn't a sociopath?"

"That no matter what I am, I'm better with you." 

She smiled at him and it took him a moment, but he smiled back.

"What if . . ." He dragged her closer, so she stumbled into him. She craned her neck to look up into his bewitching eyes. "What if I told you that I have a ring in my pocket, and a very important question?"

"I'd tell you to ask me tomorrow," she said, and kissed him for the whole world to see.

-x-

He didn't make it to tomorrow. She said yes anyway.

-x-

The greatest thing about the Fantastic Four was that they were always there when you needed them.

The worst thing was that they never shut up.

“I swear, kid, you’re lucky you’re cute because otherwise, I wouldn’ta bothered,” Ben said, hefting several boxes into Johnny’s bedroom.

Johnny laid on his new sofa, eating grapes while his family carried in more boxes. Reed and Sue were pointedly not to talk to each other, but he noticed the furtive glances they kept casting, and he definitely noticed the ring glinting on Sue’s finger.

He wasn’t quite ready to fawn over it, but he was so excited for when he would be.

“You thinking about helping at all?” Sue asked, depositing her boxes.

“Nope. See, if it was you being forced to move out of your apartment because I was moving in, then I wouldn’t dream of asking you to help move your stuff.”

Sue huffed but went back for more things.

Guilt was a great motivator.

“I didn’t even know you owned this much stuff,” Reed said. His arms unfurled like rope and boxes fell to the carpet.

“I may have packed some of your experimental haircare tools,” Johnny said. “For luck.”

Reed met his eyes and a tiny smile curled at the corner of his mouth. Johnny thought that they were going to be okay some day. Maybe even some day soon.

As Reed left to make the awful, one floor journey to his own apartment for more of Johnny’s things, Johnny let himself relax on the couch. He closed his eyes and listened to the city silence that was never quite silence. He let himself enjoy the aloneness that came from not truly being alone. He let himself be happy in that way that means you’re not happy yet, but maybe you’re getting there.

_“Love . . . I get so lost sometimes . . . Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart . . .”_

Johnny cracked open an eye, wondering if he had lost it at last. He stood up and crept to the window, looking at the street far below, but of course, there was no one, or at least no one looking for him.

_“But whichever way I go, I come back to the place you are . . . All my instincts, they return . . .”_

Johnny spun and ran to his door, flinging it open. And there, right outside, stood Peter Parker holding a boombox.

“Oh, my god,” Johnny said.

“I’m no good at romance,” Peter said. “Ask MJ about the time I proposed to her with a bag of M&M’s.”

“Oh, my _god_ ,” said Johnny.

“She actually helped me with a lot of the notes.” He shrugged defensively. “I thought it was kind of stupid, but apparently, people like that sort of thing.”

Johnny smiled so wide it hurt. “Peter.”

"I'm sorry about all the shit I said. You don't owe me anything, honest, and I know you're just out of a relationship. And Reed - he's a really good guy, as much it pains me to say it. I actually had this big grand plan to let you go, it was very self-sacrificing -,"

"Peter, I swear to god -,"

“But I watched this movie for you okay? Well, not the whole movie. The last ten minutes.” He cracked a grin. “Twenty minutes. And it got me thinking. About how when you love someone, you take risks for them. And you don't give up on them. And I'm not ready to give up on you. So here I am, with a boombox, taking a huge freaking risk.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” Johnny asked.

“All the time. Legend has it, my own mother –,”

Johnny kissed him with grape juice on his lips and music in his blood and love dripping from his fingers. And Peter, of the well-guessed coffee orders and the camera and the secret poetry, who made Johnny want to scream and who was never surprised when Johnny made him laugh, kissed him back.

_“I see the doorway to a thousand churches . . .”_

Peter pulled away. “Wait, wait, one second, hold that thought.” He situated the boombox on the floor by their feet. “I paid ten bucks for this thing at a garage sale, okay?”

“Big spender,” Johnny said, and Peter gripped the back of his neck and brought their lips together once, twice, three times, a thousand times more.

_“The resolution of all the fruitless searches . . . oh, I see the light and the heat in your eyes . . .”_

The city sang.


End file.
